Alyza walked out onto the main deck, dressed in a new outfit. She no longer wore a dress, but leather armor befitting that of an archer, complete with a single arm bracer on her least dominant forearm, and light shoulder pads. Still, she took inspiration from Victus, and wore her dress as a sash around her waist, part of it hanging loosely above the knee.
Vackerie was also fitted in new armor, though it was mostly chainmail that could be hidden beneath her usual spellcaster’s outfit. Victus joined them, spotting a new coat that was lined with wolf fur on the inside, “Man, it’s already starting to get cold..”
“We’ve only been sailing a few days,” Alyza replied. “It’ll get colder, so make sure you bundle up.”
“Easy for you to say. You’ve always been so tolerant of the cold weather..”
“I’ve just grown used to it..” She still seemed troubled, worried that they wouldn’t make it in time to see her father. Vackerie took notice of the awkward silence and tried to chime in.
“Err..Victus, you’re not a very good stylist, are you?” She told him with a polite smile that didn’t match her words.
“Huh?! Where did that come from?” He looked more shocked than irritated.
“You chose this armor for us, and it doesn’t match our cutesy personalities at all,” she giggled. “Not to mention how tacky that coat looks-”
“Rude! This was all we could afford..And what do ya mean, cutesy? You two aren’t cutesy at all!”
Vackerie crossed her arms with a pout, “You weren’t supposed to say that, jerk..”
Alyza quickly turned to him, “You don’t think I’m cutesy?” She crossed her arms, giving him the look.
He became nervous, “Th-That’s not what I meant, it’s just that, uhh..Well, cuteness isn’t necessarily efficient..For battle..?”
“Efficient?” She put a hand on her rapier, glaring at him, “I’ll show you efficient..”
Vackerie cheered her on in the background, pumping her fists in a petty rage.
“Alright, you scallywags! Storm’s approaching, so get yer sorry rears down to the fo'c'sle! As for my crew: get back to bloody work!” The captain shouted from the helm, his voice loud enough to be heard across the whole deck. Alyza spared Victus a beating, and the three of them headed down to their quarters.
There they shared a small room with four hammocks, two of which hung above each other at both sides of the room. Vackerie immediately climbed onto one of the higher ones, “I call the top bunk tonight!” Thunder rumbled and the ship tilted suddenly, causing Vackerie to fall off. “Ow..!”
The three got settled in, making sure to hold onto what little they had whenever the ship tilted. Victus rested in his hammock, across from them, “You know, I wonder who that last bed’s for.” He looked up at the empty hammock above him, “Think someone else was supposed to be here?”
“Maybe,” Alyza was reading a book. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter. If they were here, they’d-”
A familiar man slowly opened the door, a man Victus thought he’d seen before they set sail: Davon Morelli, the bounty hunter they encountered nearly two months ago. Their luck was anything but fortunate.
“What are you doing here?!” Victus and Alyza quickly got up, both of them reaching for their weapons. Vackerie remained in a state of confusion, staying in her hammock.
“Can’t..Take..Another night..” Davon staggered into the room, falling to his knees, “So..Nauseous..”
“Er..Seasick?”
Davon corked an empty vial, handing it back to Alyza. She swiped it from him and put it away, “There. You’ll start to feel better in a few minutes.”
“..You have my gratitude,” Davon sighed, leaning against the wall. He was perspiring, more pale than usual. “I’ve been avoiding this for what felt like an eternity..”
“So were you supposed to be grouped up with us?” Vackerie asked from her hammock above. She found him rather attractive, and that clouded her judgment. “You could’ve just asked..”
“It was best he didn’t,” Victus interrupted, his arms crossed in disapproval. “This guy was going to kill Clyme a couple months back, just for some coin. He’s a cold-blooded killer.”
“..Many people are. Adventurers and mercenaries alike,” Davon glared at him. “You think you’re special just because you value the life of some other murderer?”
Victus rolled his eyes, “So, what? Now we gotta deal with you sleeping with us just because you can’t hold down your food? Why even sail in the first place, then?”
Davon looked away from him, keeping his eyebrows furrowed, “You’re too young to understand. My journey is my business and mine alone..”
Victus was quickly growing intolerant of him. “That’s great. Spare us your edgy backstory that I didn’t want to hear anyway, and get the Hel outta here.”
Morelli grunted, holding his stomach as he got up. He limped out of the room, looking much more pathetic than when they’d first met. Alyza tried her best to restrain feeling any sympathy towards him, but later that night, she snuck out of the room while the others were asleep.
She found him near the supplies, asleep next to a mysterious chest. The chest had all sorts of wicked designs on it, reeking of an arcanic nature she was yet to understand.
His eyes opened suddenly, spotting her. He was on his feet in an instant, pointing his rapier directly at her, “State your business!” She held her hands up in a non-threatening manner, and he lowered his weapon. It was obvious that he was on edge.
“I came to check up on you,” Alyze replied.
“Why? To ridicule me?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“As much as I’d like to, no. I came to give you some more medicine,” she took out a few vials, handing them to him. “Drink one a day. It’ll hold off the sickness until your body becomes used to sailing.”
Davon hesitated, then lowered his sword and took the vials, putting them away in his pouch, “Is that all? I don’t suppose you expected some form of payment.”
“Well, maybe you could tell me what’s in the chest? Knowing you, though, it’s probably a body.” The lid of the chest subtly opened a little, glowing purple eyes peering out from the inside. Neither of them noticed.
“Inside are only my belongings,” Morelli replied. “Now if you are done pestering me, I suggest that you leave.”
Alyza sighed and turned around, heading back to their sleeping quarters. When she arrived, she noticed Victus was awake, sitting up in his hammock. He looked at her, “Oh, there you are. I almost got worried, heh..”
“..You should go back to sleep,” she walked past him to her hammock, removing her books and sliding them under the sheet. There was a sense of unease that followed her wherever she went, and it was becoming more noticeable as time went on.
“I had a bad dream,” Victus replied. “Besides, it’s hard enough to sleep with all these big waves rocking the ship around..”
“..What was your dream about?” She stood up, still faced away from him. Her mind had been elsewhere the whole trip thus far.
“The past,” he was holding a tattered yellow scarf. It had only become more damaged over the years, yet he held onto it. “I guess I thought that finding someone to love would cure me, but here I am..Just as broken as before..”
She finally turned around, slow to speak, “..I suppose we’re all broken in a way. Yet, here we are.” Alyza stepped closer. “You’ve believed in me this whole time, and now all my jagged edges could fit perfectly into yours.”
“Wow. Have you been reading poetry?” He put the scarf away and took her hand, once she was close enough, “Your hands are cold as ice..”
“So are yours..” She sat next to him, interlocking their fingers. “Perhaps we should warm up together?”
* * *
They awoke to a loud banging on their door. Victus and Alyza scrambled out of the hammock to their feet, and alarmed, Vackerie fell out of her hammock onto the floor, “Ow..”
A crew member informed them that the ship had arrived at a small island and docked there, to resupply and repair damages that the ship had suffered the night before, during the storm. The island itself was a small but snowy island, with various tiny houses that mostly surrounded the port.
Victus stomped on the snow when they got off the ship, “It’s land! Land! Oh, I thought I’d never feel solid ground beneath my feet ever again!” He happily kicked the snow, then flopped to the ground, making a snow angel.
“Oh, me too!” Vackerie turned and fell onto her back, working on a snow angel. Alyza facepalmed, hoping none of the sailors had seen them act so childishly. “Come on, Ally, join us!”
“Ally?” Alyza tilted her head.
“It’s a cute nickname, no?”
“Are you two trying to be cutesy again?” Victus asked.
Alyza had never been given a nickname. Her parents made it clear that, due to her status, she was always to be addressed by her first name, or her last name in a professional manner. Being called Ally made her smile, however.
“What do you mean, ‘trying’?” She replied to him, putting her hands on her hips, “For us, it comes naturally.”
“Yeah!” Vackerie agreed. Victus rolled his eyes as he got up. He looked at the snowy, inactive volcano that crowded the gray, cloudy sky. They would only be here for the rest of the day, since the ship would be repaired and ready to depart by nightfall, but he couldn’t help his urge to explore.
“You guys think there’s a dungeon up there?” He watched as a large white bird flew around the mountain.
An old woman crept up behind him, covered in thick, cultural garments lined with fur. She poked his back with the thick club that she used as a cane. “Ow! Hey!” He quickly turned around, rubbing his back, “What gives?!”
“Don’t even think about going up there, young man! It’s far too dangerous for a-” She looked up at him, much shorter than he was. “..Wait a minute. That hair, those eyes and ears..Are you perhaps related to Virlyn?”
“You got all that from just looking at me?” Victus crossed his arms, “But yeah, I am. That was my mother’s name. My father lacked all those features, though..”
“I knew it! Your mother visited us, long ago. She must have been around your age, maybe a little older. Took Amari with her, she did..” The elderly woman seemed to be reminiscing.
“Amari was my father. He never told me he was from here.. Well, I guess I didn’t get to talk to him much, since he died when I was younger. He got sick.”
“Amari’s dead?” She became distraught. “Oh dear..My, now that I get a good look at you, you look so much like him..Come,” she turned and began walking. “My house is this way. You can bring your girlfriends along too.”
“Er, just one of them is my girlfriend..” He and the others followed, leaving footprints in the snow.
She laughed, “I know. But your father was the type that could never say no, and he was always so nice. There was a time when it seemed like every girl on the island had a crush on him.”
Alyza stopped in her tracks, displeased. She glared at Victus, and he shook his head in a desperate manner.
“Vick can be dependable, but calling him nice is a bit of a stretch,” Vackerie teased. “That’s why him and Ally are together, they’re both perfect for each other.”
“..I advise you to manage your insinuations more carefully, Vackerie,” Alyza side-eyed her.
“See?” She gave a polite smile. The elderly woman chuckled, continuing her pace. They followed until they arrived at her small, box-shaped house, the awning covered in snow. The woman poked the bottom of the awning with her cane, and the snow atop it fell off onto Victus.
“Brr!” He shook the snow off of his body, shivering while he rubbed his elbows, “Watch it, old lady! I’m already freezing out here as it is..”
“Don’t be such a baby. You could use it as discipline, you know,” she turned back to him, pointing at Alyza and Vack. “Look. The girls don’t seem all that cold.”
“I grew up in Freyrun. It’s always cold there,” Alyza replied, dusting some snow off of her shoulder.
“And I’m cold-blooded!” Vackerie happily added. Victus felt his teeth start to chatter, hugging himself.
“I-I already disciplined myself in the mountains back home. It’s just s-so much colder here! Where is here, anyway?” He could see the raging ocean from where they were, large foamy waves splashing against the island’s eroded rocks.
“Daunfel. Many come here on their way to Freyrun, or Virunia. It’s cold as Hel here, and there’s not that many people, but we like it that way,” the elderly woman struggled to open the front door, until it finally slid open. “There we go..”
“But, don’t you guys ever get bored?” Victus was the first to enter after her. “Don’t you want to see everything that the rest of the world has to offer?”
“This way of life has kept us away from all the pointless matters that the rest of the world faces. No one wants to live here, and no one needs anything from us. Except for some wood now and then..”
“I guess so..It’s much easier to ignore all the bad stuff if it’s not shoved in your face.”
“You sound like your father..”
“..You make it sound like you knew him well.”
“He was..”
The woman became silent, troubled. She headed into the small kitchen she had, opening the cupboard, “Would you three care for some tea? I’ve not much, just what I could trade with the people that have passed through here..” She turned around, dropping the cups in her hands when she saw Amari standing behind her. Her eyes welled up with tears, slowly reaching for him as she stepped closer. “My boy..” She pulled him into a hug, her voice breaking.
“You’ve finally come home..”